TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida legislative leaders said Tuesday they would try to legislate quickly to bar a Florida newspaper from obtaining autopsy pictures of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, who was killed in a crash at the Daytona 500 last month.

Newspapers join lawsuit

The Miami Herald and Tampa Tribune are among the four metropolitan newspapers that have joined the Orlando Sentinel's attempt to gain access to autopsy photos of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, the Sentinel reported in Wednesday's editions. The newspapers took the action amid a growing debate over the photos, which the Sentinel wants to examine as part of its inquiry into the crash that killed Earnhardt during the final lap of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, sued Volusia County four days after the crash to prevent release of the autopsy photos, calling it an invasion of the family's privacy. Volusia County Circuit Judge Joseph Will granted a temporary injunction barring their release on the grounds that they are not newsworthy. The next day, the Sentinel made a public-records request for the pictures. In addition to the Herald and Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and WFLA-Channel 8, a Tampa NBC affiliate, joined the Sentinel's lawsuit to obtain access. The Sentinel, Times and Chicago Tribune are all owned by Tribune Co. of Chicago.

Senate Majority Leader Jim King and Sen. Bill Posey, both Republicans, said they will sponsor a bill making it a felony to publish video tapes or photographs from autopsies. Under existing Florida law, those are public records open to all unless sealed by a court.

King said the bill comes in response to "thousands of telephone calls and e-mails" from Earnhardt fans angered over attempts by the Orlando Sentinel to obtain pictures and videotape taken during the autopsy.

Earnhardt, a legendary NASCAR driver and racing icon, died last month at the Daytona 500, when his car slammed into a wall at 180 mph on the last lap of the stock car race.

Questions have arisen surrounding Earnhardt's death. The Sentinel requested the images to conduct its own investigation of the crash.

"We've said we're not going to publish, copy or handle the pictures, we simply want a medical expert to examine them for us," said Timothy Franklin, the newspaper's editor and vice president.

He said four NASCAR drivers had died in crashes in the past nine months, three from fractures to the base of the skull. The newspaper wants to send a medical expert to examine the autopsy photos to determine whether Earnhardt also died of such injuries, which may be preventable with the use of a system known as HANS, which restricts head and neck movement in crashes.

"We've bent over backward to be sensitive to the Earnhardt family and their pain and at the same time try to get to the bottom of how he died. There are conflicting medical opinions over whether he died of a basal skull fracture," Franklin said.

Under the proposed legislation, which was still being drafted late on Tuesday, pictures and videos taken during autopsies would be exempted from Florida public record law.

On Sunday, Earnhardt's wife, Teresa, went on television to plead for fans to contact Florida lawmakers to intervene.

"Releasing the pictures will serve only to violate the privacy of our family and the integrity of Dale's legacy," Teresa said in a prepared statement. "Our family knows that what is happening to us is wrong and we don't want any other family in America to go through what we're going through."

King said the bill contains a provision that gives law enforcement officials access to the images. Others could also obtain photographs or video only with a judge's consent.

"I personally can't imagine why pictures of Dale Earnhardt lying on a steel gurney after an autopsy has any reason to be in the Internet, in a tabloid or in any other way sensationalized," King said. "If there is a need for someone to have them for the public good, there is a methodology for them to get it."

King said Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would try to persuade the judge hearing the Orlando Sentinel's request to see the photos to hold on a ruling until the Legislature acts.

"I would hope that whatever judge is sitting on this understands that the Legislature is going to take action and it is going to be positive," King said. "If I could, I'd pass it in an hour."

House sponsors also have been lined up for the bill, though Kim Stone, spokeswoman for House Speaker Tom Feeney, said it would be at least three weeks before the House would consider legislation.